Business Briefs

February 7, 2014

West Coast Chic will hold its grand opening party Saturday, Feb. 8, from 4-7 p.m., at 1480 NE Pine Island Road, #1A (across from Mel's Diner), in Cape Coral. The party will include a free gift with every purchase, raffles, blow-out deals and much more.

The event will also have appetizers, cakes and cocktails. For more information, call 239-678-9028.

Elliott selected to advisory council

Jerry Elliott, BB&T-Oswald Trippe and Company, will help to improve the experience of Safeco Insurance customers after being selected as a participant on the company's Southeast Region Agent Advisory Council.

The advisory council program, which consists of eight regional panels along with a national council, gathers feedback from agents across the country to enhance both service and business results for Safeco and independent agencies.

BB&T-Oswald Trippe and Company provides comprehensive insurance and risk-management services to families and businesses throughout Florida. The agency offers protection from the nation's leading insurance companies. BB&T-Oswald Trippe and Company has offices in Fort Myers, Cape Coral, Holmes Beach, Miami, Naples, Ocala and Weston, Fla.

Ted Todd has announced that long-time insurance executive and community activist Dilman Thomas has joined the Ted Todd Insurance Agency to lead the agency's customer relations. Thomas has over 30 years of banking and insurance industry experience as agency manager and director of client relations with BB&T-Oswald Trippe and as a senior vice president with SunTrust Bank of Southwest Florida.

A native of Clearwater, Fla., Thomas holds a BS in Business Administration from the University of Florida,.

Attorney Zachary M. Gill has been named a partner in the law firm of Goldstein, Buckley, Cechman, Rice & Purtz, P.A. Gill has worked at GBCR&P since 2010 where he concentrates his practice in the area of personal injury law, criminal defense and general civil litigation.

Gill was born and raised in Fort Myers. He obtained his BA from Florida State University and his juries doctor from Barry University School of Law.

As part of its effort to make a difference in the communities it serves, Publix Super Market Charities continued its support of Habitat for Humanity of Lee and Hendry Counties Inc. by sponsoring a home with a $50,000 donation. This brings the amount which Publix Super Market Charities has donated to the local organization to $649,000.

The presentation was marked at the home site in east Fort Myers where Publix employees are building the home.

Habitat homes are built through the use of volunteer labor and donations of money and materials. The homes are then sold to the homeowners with an interest-free mortgage and monthly payments set at less than 30 percent of the homeowner's income, making homeownership an affordable reality. Habitat homeowners must qualify financially for the program; save $1,200 toward their closing costs; attend classes focusing on homeownership, budgeting and home maintenance; and complete 250 hours of "sweat equity" by volunteering at Habitat.

Bennett's Fresh Roast will celebrate its sixth anniversary in downtown Fort Myers, with a five-day coffee festival, featuring a different ultra premium award-winning coffee from across the globe each day, and an anniversary doughnut.

Bennett's owner Bob Grissinger, former local morning disc jockey C. David Bennett, opened Bennett's in 2008 with partners Roger Munro, Frank Albano and Anne Munro at the start of the area's worst economic downturn.

A second Bennett's location recently opened on Sanibel.

From Saturday, Feb. 8, through Wednesday, Feb. 12, both Bennett's locations will offer five incredible varieties of coffees from around the world.

Hill, Barth & King LLC has announced that Gerd Franke, principal, and William Dickinson, manager, in the Naples office and Michael DeLuca, manager, in the Fort Myers office, have been accepted by the Internal Revenue Service as Certifying Acceptance Agents.

As Certifying Acceptance Agents, they are authorized by the IRS to assist individuals and other foreign persons in obtaining Individual Taxpayer Identification Numbers. The IRS issues ITINs to help individuals comply with the U.S. tax laws.

R.S. Walsh Landscaping, a full-service landscape design-build company, has hired Jeremy Walsh as project manager. Walsh will oversee residential and commercial projects for the company that specializes in landscape design, installation and maintenance. He is a recent graduate of The University of Florida with a bachelor of science in Landscape and Nursery Horticulture.

R.S. Walsh Landscaping is a family-owned and operated, full-service landscape design-build Company specializing in landscape design, installation, and maintenance.

R.S. Walsh In The Garden Retail Garden Center & Outdoor Showroom is at 3889 Sanibel Captiva Road, across from the Sanibel School, and is open Monday through Friday, 10 a.m. until 4 p.m., and on Saturday, 9 a.m. until 1 p.m. For more information call (239) 768-5655 or visit www.rswalsh.com